Burnt

Sun, 17 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Can a star chef act agile? It is challenging to explain agile or lean methods to customers or outsiders. In the agile environment, many examples and metaphors from software development dominate.

Agile Increment

Sun, 20 Oct 2024 11:50:55 +0200

What is an increment? - A Business Analysis Perspective

Agile methods are standard in software development and are expected to produce results. The Scrum guide defines these results as increments.

A manager in the software industry highlighted that her organization utilizes agile methods. However, she is interested in documenting the workshop outcomes rather than just engaging in agile discussions. This reflects a common requirements analysis challenge in agile transformation.

What is an increment?

Agile methods are standard in software development and are expected to produce results. The Scrum guide defines these results as increments. Scrum is an agile and lightweight framework. A manager in the software industry highlighted that her organization utilizes agile methods. However, she is interested in documenting the workshop outcomes rather than just engaging in agile discussions.

I believe that embracing agile methods is about generating business value across all aspects of the business.

Scrum Guide

The Scrum Guide 2020 describes the term of the Increment:

Increment

An Increment is a concrete stepping stone toward the Product Goal. Each Increment is additive to all prior Increments and thoroughly verified, ensuring that all Increments work together. To provide value, the Increment must be usable. Multiple Increments may be created within a Sprint. The sum of the Increments is presented at the Sprint Review thus supporting empiricism. However, an Increment may be delivered to stakeholders prior to the end of the Sprint. The Sprint Review should never be considered a gate to releasing value. Work cannot be considered part of an Increment unless it meets the Definition of Done (Scrum Guide#increment).

Conclusion

Sprint strives to create something of value that aligns with the organization’s or product’s mission.

Incorporating agile methods into other areas of knowledge work is an idea worth considering. When using agile methods, it’s important to note that they do not prohibit the creation of diagrams. The primary focus is on ensuring that the outcome is valuable and aligns with the overall mission. In traditional finance, business value is often measured in terms of profits and cost contribution. However, German drugstore DM has introduced a concept called “valuation accounting or value-development accounting (Wertbildungsrechnung)”, which takes into account a broader range of factors than just profit maximization. This approach has the potential to lead to more sustainable and resilient business models in the medium and long term (Next-U Werbildungsrechnung).